Art by Paul Rios
The other day I was crazy busy at work. The kind of busy that makes you forget about eating until your head and stomach remind you with sharp awkward pains. Being that work was not going to slow up, I figured it would be best to grab a quick something that I could bring back to my desk and nibble on. Typically I try to stay away from fast food, but today was just one of those days the dirty deed had to be done. I’m sure the guilty pleasure part of my brain was ‘lovin’ it’.
While sitting in the drive-thru line awaiting my tasty guilt, I happened to glance up and see a truck with the worn lettering ‘Pacific Coast Body Parts’ which appeared to once be stenciled on it’s side. You know the look. The look as if someone tried to peel off the logo that was once there before, but it’s still vaguely visible, possibly from the glue or just a crap removal job.
At first glance this just seemed like a normal casual truck passing by, but for some reason I had an aching feeling there was more to it than that. This was such a random looking truck to be where it was that I’m fairly certain that this truck wasn’t random at all. This truck was trying to mask its appearance, trying not to bring attention to itself. A truck that most obviously was trying to not look obvious. But why?
Pacific Coast Body Parts, Pacific Coast Body Parts…the name kept ringing in my head as I pictured the mysterious truck creeping off into the distance as I awaited my two cheeseburgers with no onions, large fries and large coke. This truck had to be up to no good. Why else would you go through all that trouble to conceal yourself?
My mind must have wandered for a little too long as the person in the car behind me brought reality back with a nice firm impatient honk. I pulled up to the drive-thru window, pulled out my ATM card to pay and gathered my McFood and McDrink. I politely rejected any ketchup and special sauce then thanked the drive-thru lady for serving me with a lackluster smile.
Back at the office I pulled out the first of two cheeseburgers with no onions and took a healthy bite. As I washed down the cheeseburger with a couple fries and my ice-cold coke water, I pondered why this truck was pulling away from the time-honored classic McD’s. What could it possibly be trying to hide? Or was it hiding nothing and I was just off on one of my many crazy mind trips? I guess it’s quite possible this truck being in that parking lot was just a coincidence.
Forgetting that I had loads of work to do I decided to look up McDonald’s on the internet. Let’s look at the stats – McDonald’s operates over 31,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.5 million people in more than 119 countries on six continents. They started and operate Ronald McDonald House Charities whose mission is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children across the world. They help kids! This corporation could not possibly be evil, right?
Despite the facts I just found online, my mind kept going back to the truck. Pacific Coast Body Parts, Pacific Coast Body Parts…As I took another healthy bite from my cheeseburger with no onions, reality sunk in hard with each mouthy chew and I probably shouldn’t have been completely surprised. How could I be so daft? It was so plainly simple.
It’s people. McDonald’s is made out of people. They’re making our food out of people…mother freaking people.